Dionysius Exiguus
The surname EXIGUUS,
or "The Little", adopted probably in self-deprecation and not because he was small of stature; flourished
in the earlier part of the sixth century, dying before the year
544. According to his friend and fellow-student, Cassiodorus (De
divinis Lectionibus, c. xxiii), though by birth a Scythian, he
was in character a true Roman and thorough Catholic, most learned
in both tongues–i.e., Greek and Latin–and an
accomplished Scripturist. Much of his life was spent in Rome,
where he governed a monastery as abbot. His industry was very
great and he did good service in translating standard works from
Greek into Latin, principally the "Life of St. Pachomius", the
"Instruction of St. Proclus of Constantinople" for the Armenians,
the "De opificio hominis" of St. Gregory of Nyssa, the history of
the discovery of the head of St. John the Baptist. The
translation of St. Cyril of Alexandria's synodical letter against
Nestorius, and some other works long attributed to Dionysius are
now acknowledged to be earlier and are assigned to Marius Mercator.
Of great importance were the
contributions of Dionysius to the science of canon law, the first
beginnings of which in Western Christendom were due to him. His
"Collectio Dionysiana" embraces (1) a collection of synodal
decrees, of which he has left two editions:–(a)
"Codex canonum Ecclesiæ Universæ". This contains
canons of Oriental synods and councils only in Greek and Latin,
including those of the four œ;cumenical councils from
Nicæa (325) to Chalcedon (451).–(b) "Codex
canonum ecclesiasticarum". This is in Latin only; its contents
agree generally with the other, but the Council of Ephesus (431)
is omitted, while the so-called "Canons of the Apostles" and
those of Sardica are included, as well as 138 canons of the
African Council of Carthage (419).–(c) Of another
bilingual version of Greek canons, undertaken at the instance of
Pope Hormisdas, only the preface has been preserved. (2) A
collection of papal Constitutions (Collectio decretorum
Pontificum Romanorum) from Siricius to Anastasius II (384-498).
In chronology Dionysius has left
his mark conspicuously, for it was he who introduced the use of
the Christian Era (see
CHRONOLOGY) according to which
dates are reckoned from the Incarnation, which he assigned to 25
March, in the year 754 from the foundation of Rome (A. U. C.). By this method of computation he intended to
supersede the "Era of Diocletian" previously employed, being
unwilling, as he tells us, that the name of an impious persecutor
should be thus kept in memory. The Era of the Incarnation, often
called the Dionysian Era, was soon much used in Italy and, to
some extent, a little later in Spain; during the eighth and ninth
centuries it was adopted in England. Charlemagne is said to have
been the first Christian ruler to employ it officially. It was
not until the tenth century that it was employed in the papal
chancery (Lersch, Chronologie, Freiburg, 1899, p. 233).
Dionysius also gave attention to the calculation of Easter, which
so greatly occupied the early Church. To this end he advocated
the adoption of the Alexandrian Cycle of nineteen years,
extending that of St. Cyril for a period of ninety-five years in
advance. It was in this work that he adopted the Era of the
Incarnation.
DIONYSIUS, works in P.L., LXVII, and the testimony of CASSIODORUS, ibid, LXX. See also MAASEN, Quellen der Lit. des can. Rechts im Abendlande (Graz, 1870); BARDENHEWER, Gesch. der altkirch. Lit. (Freiburg im Br., 1902).
JOHN GERARD.
Transcribed by WGKofron
With thanks to St. Mary's Church, Akron, Ohio
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume V
Copyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
